Real Madrid and Juventus win as Europe gets into full swing

Champions Real Madrid and Juventus began the defence of their Spanish and Italian league titles with victories as continental Europe's major leagues finally got into full swing this weekend.

England captain David Beckham made a goalscoring league debut on Saturday but it was Ronaldo who secured a narrow 2-1 home win over Real Betis.

"I think that's about the quickest goal I have ever scored," said Beckham after he added to Wednesday's second-half header in the Super Cup win over Real Mallorca.

Juventus kicked off their defence in style with a no-holds-barred 5-1 home win over Empoli on Sunday.

Madrid's eternal rivals Barcelona also got off to a winning start in a fixture which looked much tougher on paper - away to Athletic Bilbao.

Dutchman Philip Cocu scored the only goal on 12 minutes with a glancing header after a freekick from Giovanni Van Bronckhorst.

New signing Ronaldinho had a quiet league debut for Barca following his summer move from Paris Saint Germain.

Last year's runners up Real Sociedad had to be content, meanwhile, with a 1-1 draw at Espanyol.

The opening day gave little indication as to who can challenge Real for the league crown, the nine-times European champions having won the title for the 29th time last time out.

With the bulk of the action showing sides still in third gear at this stage the most revealing moment of the evening was serial streaker Mark Roberts, who gave the crowd an eyeful at the Bernabeu before officials ejected him.

Real just about kept their concentration, even though Betis' Joaquin cancelled out Beckham's close-range strike on two minutes from a low left-wing cross from Roberto Carlos with a fine header on 34 minutes.

Without Chelsea-bound Claude Makelele, Real's midfield was at times a jumble.

But Beckham could have had a second when a piledriver hit the crossbar before Ronaldo volleyed the winner from Zinedine Zidane's swirling cross from the left flank to the far post in the 63rd minute.

Two goals apiece for Italy international Alessandro Del Piero and strike partner David Trezeguet helped Italy's reigning champions Juventus on their way to a comfortable victory over the shell-shocked Tuscans.

Marco Di Vaio netted a late spot-kick for Juve's fifth goal before Antonio Di Natale grabbed a late consolation for the visitors.

Two goals in the last four minutes gave Inter Milan a nervy 2-0 win at home to Modena, while Lazio crushed newly-promoted Lecce 4-1 at the Olympic stadium.

AS Roma, deprived of their captain Francesco Totti because of suspension, edged Udinese 2-1 thanks to a cheeky back-heeled winning goal from Vincenzo Montella.

In the day's other matches, Brescia were held 1-1 at home to Chievo, new boys Siena earned a 2-2 draw away to Perugia, and Parma twice came from behind to snatch a 2-2 draw at local rivals Bologna in the late game.

Juventus coach Marcello Lippi still found cracks in his side's performance despite a resounding win.

"In the first-half we looked unbalanced and there wasn't a great deal of cohesion," he said. "But there was an improvement in the second and we saw our true quality come through."

Lippi dodged questions about the future of Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids who wasn't even named as a substitute amid reports of a dressing room bust-up.

"Davids, Igor Tudor and Mark Iuliano all trained this morning for today's match and when they are ready they will play," Lippi added.

"I told them all they weren't ready. There can be no exceptions. We didn't miss Davids, we didn't miss anybody."

In France, Monaco edged past lowly Metz 1-0 to take top spot in the French league on Sunday while Marseille beat Ajaccio and Lens defeated Nice by the same scoreline.

The results left Monaco on 12 points from five games with Marseille second on goal difference. Lille and Nantes were in third and fourth position two points further back.

Sebastien Squillaci won the points for Monaco, Dagui Bakari scored the only goal for Lens while former Marseille keeper Stephane Trevisan's error got Camel Meriem on the scoresheet.

Borussia Dortmund put their disappointing Champions League exit to Club Brugge behind them with a 3-0 win Sunday over SpVgg EGC Wirges in the first round of the German Cup.

Dortmund join other big guns such as Bayern Munich, Schalke 04 and VfB Stuttgart in the second round but will be wary of an upset after last season's 3-0 thrashing by SC Freiburg at the same stage.